11.467J | Spring 2005 | Graduate

Property Rights in Transition

Readings

Students should purchase the course text:

Ellickson, Robert C., Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman, eds. Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

LEC # TOPICS readings
1 Introduction to Property Rights Revolutions Around the Globe

Communist Manifesto Ten Plans

Locke, John. Chapter 5 in Second Treatise of Government. 1690.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality. 1755. (Excerpt from the Second Discourse.)

Marx, Karl. Chapters 32, and 33 in Capital. 1867.

Recommended

Bentham, Jeremy (1802). “Security and Equality of Property.” In Property. Edited by C. B. MacPherson. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1999, pp. 39-58. ISBN: 9780802063366.

“Property Rights and Enterprise Reform.” Chapter 3 in From Plan To Market. World Bank World Development Report. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 44-65.

2 The Naturalness and Unnaturalness of Property: How Do Things Become Owned?

Ellickson, Robert C., Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman, eds. Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers, pp. 1-45, and 180-189. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Goffman, Erving. “Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Radin, Margaret Jane. “Property and Personhood.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Pipes, Richard. “Human Nature and the Fall of Communism.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Rose, Carol. “Possession as the Origin of Property.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

———. “Property as Storytelling: Perspectives from Game Theory, Narrative Theory, Feminist Theory.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

3

Commodification: What Properties Can Be Bought and Sold?

Guest Speaker: Carol Rose

Rose, Carol M. “Afterword: Whither Commodification.” Working paper, 2004.

Friedman, Milton. “Capitalism and Freedom.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers, pp. 75-91. ISBN: 9780735528741.

4 Property Rights Doctrine in Developing Countries: Convergence or Diversity?

de Soto, Hernando. “The Mystery of Capital,” Chapter 3 and “The Mystery of Legal Failure.” Chapter 6 in The Mystery of Capital. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2003, pp. 39-67, and 153-206. ISBN: 9780465016150.

Woodruff, Christopher. “Review of de Soto’s The Mystery of the Capital.” Journal of Economic Literature XXXIX (2001): 1215-1223.

Krueckeberg, Donald A. “The Lessons of John Locke or Hernando de Soto: What if Your Dreams Come True?” Housing Policy Debate 15, no. 1 (2004): 1-24.

Schaefer, Peter F. “Comment on Donald A. Krueckeberg’s “The Lessons of John Locke or Hernando de Soto: What if Your Dreams Come True?”” Housing Policy Debate 15, no. 1 (2004): 25-37.

Recommended

de Soto, Hernando. “The Missing Lessons of U.S. History.” In The Mystery of Capital. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2000, pp. 105-151. ISBN: 9780465016143.

“Legal Institutions and the Role of Law.” In From Plan To Market. World Bank World Development Report. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 87-97.

5 Economic Perspectives of Property Rights

Demsetz, Harold. “Toward a Theory of Property.” Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers, pp. 135-145. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Coase, Ronald H. “The Problem of Social Cost.” Journal of Law and Economic 3 (1960): 1-44.

Hart, Oliver. “Introduction.” In Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 1-12. ISBN: 9780198288817.

Barzel, Yoram. “The property rights model,” Chapter 1 and “The formation of rights,” Chapter 6 in Economic Analysis of Property Rights. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 3-15, and 85-104. ISBN: 9780521597135.

Recommended

Furubotn, Eirik, and Rudolf Richter, eds. “The New Institutional Economics: An Assessment.” In The New Institutional Economics. College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press, 1991.

Libecap, Gary D. “Analytical Framework.” In Contracting for Property Rights. Cambridge, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp. 10-28.

6 Legal Frameworks for a Market Economy: Property Rights or Contracts?

Calabresi, Guido, and A. Douglas Melamed. “One View of the Cathedral.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers, pp. 200-209. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Krier, James E., and Stewart J. Schwab. “The Cathedral in another light.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers, pp. 233-260. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Blackstone, William. “Commentaries on the Laws of England.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers, pp. 45-53. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Merrill, Thomas W., and Henry E. Smith. “What Happened to Property in Law and Economics.” The Yale Law Journal 111, no. 2 (2001): 357-398.

Cole, D. H., and P. Z. Grossman. “The meaning of property rights: law versus economics?” Land Economics 78, no. 3 (2002): 317-30.

Recommended

Hohfeld, Wesley Newcomb. Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1919.

Parisi, Francesco. “Positive, Normative, and Functional Schools in Law and Economics.” European Journal of Law and Economics 18, no. 3 (2004): 259-272.

7 Property Rights Without Law: Alternative Institutions

Ellickson, Robert C. “Order without Law: how neighbors settle disputes.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers, pp. 210-220. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Posner, Richard A., and Eric B. Rasmusen. “Creating and Enforcing Norms, with special reference to sanctions.” International Review of Law and Economics 19 (1999): 369-382.

Sanyal, Bishwapriya. “Social Norms and Formal Rules: How they influenced Housing Delivery for the Urban Poor in Developing Countries.” Discussion Paper prepared for Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. 2003.

Lo, V. I., and X. Tian. “Property Rights, Productivity Gains, and Economic Growth: the Chinese Experience.” Post-Communist Economies 14, no. 2 (2002): 245-58.

Recommended

Braguinsky, Serguey. “Enforcement of Property Rights During the Russian Transition: problems and some approaches to a new liberal solution.” Journal of Legal Studies 28 (June 1999).

8 Property Rights in Action: Empirical Evidence

Rose, Carol. “Crystals and Mud in Property Law.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002 NY: Aspen Publishers, pp. 304-320. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Kim, A. M. “A market without the ‘right’ property rights: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s newly-emerged private real estate market.” Economics of Transition 12, no. 2 (2004): 275-305.

Leaf, Michael. “Legal Authority in an Extralegal Setting: The Case of Land Rights in Jakarta, Indonesia.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 14 (1994): 12-18.

Field, Erica. “Property Rights and Household Time Allocation in Urban Squatter Communities: Evidence from Peru.” 2003. Abstract. (PDF)

9 Property Rights As a Social Construction: Why and How Do They Change?

Kim, A. M. “North versus South: the reformation of property rights in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam.” Working paper, 2005.

Granovetter, Mark. “Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness.” The American Journal of Sociology 91 (November 1985): 481-510

Buy at MIT Press Aoki, Masahiko. “What are Institutions? How should we approach them?” Chapter 1 in Comparative Institutional Analysis. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001. ISBN 9780262011877.

Merrill, Thomas W. “Introduction: the Demsetz Thesis and the Evolution of Property Rights.” Journal of Legal Studies 31, no. 2 (2002): 331-39.

Ellickson, Robert. “A Critique of Economic and Sociological Theories of Social Control.” Journal of Legal Studies 16, no. 1 (1987): 67-99.

Recommended

Krueckeberg, Donald A. “Private Property in Africa: Creation Stories of Economy, State, and Culture.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 19, no. 2 (Winter 1999).

10 The Tragedy and the Comedy of the Commons: Individual Private Ownership Versus Other Forms

Ellickson, Robert C., Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman, eds. Chapter 2 in Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Hardin, Garrett. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Acheson, James M. “The Lobster Gangs of Maine.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Demsetz, Harold. “Toward a Theory of Property.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Ellickson, Robert C. “Property in Land.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Ostrom, Elinor. Governing the Commons: the evolution of institution for collective action. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780521405997.

Recommended

Heller, Michael A. “The Tragedy of the Anticommons: Property in the Transition from Marx to Market.” Harvard Law Review 111, no. 3 (1998): 621-688.

11 The Politics and Social Conflict Over Property Rights

Krueckeberg, Donald A. “The Difficult Character of Property: to whom do things belong?” American Planning Association Journal (Summer 1995): 301-309.

Jacobs, Harvey M. “The Politics of Property Rights at the national Level: Signals and trends.” American Planning Association Journal 69, no. 2 (Spring 2003): 181-189.

Marcuse, Peter. “Privatization and Its Discontents: Property Rights in Land and Housing in Eastern Europe.” Chapter 5 in Cities After Socialism: Urban and Regional Change and Conflict in Post-Socialist Societies. Edited by Gregory Andrusz, Michael Harold, and Ivan Szelenyi. London, UK: Blackwell, 1996. ISBN: 9781557861641.

Verdery, Katherine. “The Obligations of Ownership: Restoring Rights to Land in Postsocialist Transylvania.” In Property in Question. Edited by Katherine Verdery, and Caroline Hunphrey. New York, NY: Berg Publishers, 2004, pp. 139-159. ISBN: 9781859738870.

12 Takings and Givings

Ellickson, Robert C., Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman, eds. Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers, pp. 480-520. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Michelman, Frank I. “Property, Utility, and Fairness.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Fischel, William A., and Perry Shapiro. “Takings, Insurance and Michelman.” In Perspectives on Property Law. 3rd ed. Edited by Robert C. Ellickson, Carol M. Rose, and Bruce A. Ackerman. New York, 2002, NY: Aspen Publishers. ISBN: 9780735528741.

Krueckeberg, Donald. “Property for Everyone and How to Achieve It: The Resident’s Property Tax.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 18 (1998): 171-175.